The invention relates generally to a snow plow attached to a vehicle chassis. More particularly, the invention relates to a snow plow having a front and rear blade attached and stored underneath a vehicle that selectively deploys when needed to plow and remove snow.
Winter snows have always made travel difficult. Before there were motorized vehicles, horse-drawn wooden wedge plows cleared a passage for wagons and carriages to travel. Trains have plows attached to the frame of a front locomotive to remove snow from the tracks. Light rail transit systems have plows attached to the trams or end cars.
When roads must be cleared of snow, automobiles generally rely on other larger vehicles to clear the roadways for travel. Trucks, particularly large trucks such as garbage trucks and dump trucks, as well as other construction vehicles such as front loaders are the choice of most local governments. Typically, trucks are deployed with plows attached on an as-needed basis to the front end of the vehicle whenever snow removal is required. Trucks, particularly large trucks such as garbage trucks and dump trucks, as well as other construction vehicles such as front loaders are the choice of most local governments. These vehicles generally have sufficient front end clearance above ground, sufficient power and four-wheel drive trains to push a plow effectively.
Many automobile drivers want or need to plow their driveway or private road, particularly those who drive vehicles that have four-wheel or all wheel drive and have powerful engines. One has proposed a heavy cardboard assembly that folds flat or fold into a wedge-shaped blade that sticks onto the front of a vehicle. Drivers of sport utility vehicles (SUV) and light pickup trucks in particular have tried various solutions for attaching a plow to the front of a vehicle.
The most common way to attach a plow to a small vehicle is with a hitch and pin system. Many have proposed other attachment devices such as bungie cords, straps, belts and rings. Others focus on ways to adjust height and the angle of attack of the plow blade using hydraulic systems, booms, pulleys and cables. Improvements to the blades have also been suggested such as channels, side panels, angled side panels, ribbed blades, and rubber edges. A rear plow has also been proposed.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.